Shobitha Hariharan - Artist

‘Chasing dreams that are always running ahead of me’ is how she introduces herself to the world in her social media profile pages. An artist and writer, Shobitha’s work is inspired by and centred around her personal experiences.

Paper textures and the effects of different mediums on them fascinate her. She enjoys experimenting with Charcoal powder, soft pastels and Watercolours. She relishes the charm of applying colours and blending them with the fingers. Her experiments with textural surfaces have also led her to create tactile paintings on canvas.

Shobitha considers herself a painter of sights, sounds and memories. She likes to travel to places of historic significance and has a penchant to capture the sights she sees. Her photography skills have proved invaluable in feeding her with ideas and insights for her art works and writings. She looks for the similarities between the past and the present and attempts to create something fresh and new from the legacy.

Her earlier works are comprised of series based on stairs and rooms that lead towards spaces that are yet to be explored. And another series based on the powerful, gestural and ‘larger than proportionate’ hands in the sculptures created by Auguste Rodin. Done in an experimental manner, these works have received wide appreciation. She has showcased her art works in India and abroad and received an overwhelming response and media coverage.

Her interest in the works of European Masters of Art led her to see them first hand in renowned art museums. She read about the lives of these Masters and was inspired to write a series on their initial years of struggle and growth, in Colour Canvas, a leading art fortnightly newspaper. As a writer, Shobitha writes columns, short stories, book reviews for authors and poetry.

Shobitha Hariharan’s passion for painting led her to quit a successful career in the Corporate world and plunge into the world of art. Shobitha’s innate talents blossomed through attending workshops conducted by senior artists to watch, understand and learn the subtleties of different mediums. She had been dabbling in arts and crafts since childhood and this decision to follow her heart has been an interesting journey so far.

Shobitha will be exhibiting her work at India Art Festival at Nehru Centre Mumbai [Booth 151] from January 9th to 12th 2020. She can be contacted on: shobitha.hariharan@gmail.com

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Published in colour Canvas issue of December 2019